Pages

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Cinnamon Roll Pull Apart Bread

Since it's our first Thanksgiving and Christmas as our own little family, I really wanted to start some traditions. I am carrying on the new pjs on christmas eve tradition that my family always had, but I wanted more. I had found this recipe and marked it under 'Christmas Baking' so that I would easily remember it. When we trimmed our tree, I had this sitting out to snack on. Maybe thats why Adam didn't actually put any ornaments on? Im not sure, but I do know that I want this to become a yearly thing.

I would bake it a couple of minutes less than the suggested 25, but I like everything just slightly gooey. And it made a perfect breakfast for the next morning, too. Like I said before, back to healthy eating for me. I dont even want to imagine the calorie count in this loaf, which we ate in under 24 hours.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attached, place the cornstarch, sugar, yeast, salt and 2 cups of flour.

Heat the milk and butter together in a small saucepan until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat and add the water. Let this cool for about a minute, then add the vanilla, and pour all the liquid into the bowl with the flour. Stir this all together until all the dry ingredients are moistened.

Start the mixer on a low speed as you add the eggs one at a time until they're just incorporated. Stop the mixer and add 1/2 cup more flour to the bowl. Mix again at low speed for about half a minute. Add 2 more tbsp of flour and mix in on medium speed until you get a smooth, slightly sticky dough (about 45 seconds).

On a work surface sprinkled with 2 tbsp of flour, knead the dough until it's not sticky (about 1 minute). Place the dough in a large, oiled bowl and cover it with cling film. Leave the dough to rise in a warm place until it's doubled in size which should take about an hour.

While the dough rises, make the filling by combining the dark brown sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch in a small bowl.

Once the dough is ready, lightly flour your work surface and gently tip the dough onto it, sprinkling a little more flour on top of the dough. Roll the dough out into roughly a 40 x 40 cm square, then brush about 2/3 of the butter over the entire surface of the dough.

Sprinkle 3/4 of the filling mixture evenly on top of the butter on the dough, then roll the dough tightly into a log.

Place the log horizontally on your work surface. Take a piece of thread and place it vertically on your work surface. With the thread still vertical, place log on top of the middle of the thread. Move the thread to the left or right, so it is still under the dough, and is 1 cm in from the end of the log. Take the ends of the thread and hold them above the log. Cross them over each other once and pull them away from each other until the thread has cut through the dough completely.

On a piece of baking paper, use a rolling pin to flatten each slice to 3-4 mm thick (or just flatten in your hand like I did) Brush the top of each flattened slice with a little of the remaining melted butter, ans sprinkle on about 3/4 tsp of filling mixture. Place them on top of each other so you have 4-5 stacks each containing about 5 slices.

Grease a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan and preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Place your stacks of dough into the greased loaf pan, cover loosely with clingfilm, and leave to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes

Bake the bread for 25-35 minutes when it should be golden brown on top. (like I said, I baked for 25 minutes and it was slightly more cooked then I prefer). Let it cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Meanwhile make the glaze by stirring the vanilla then the hot water, a little at a time into the powdered sugar in a small bowl until you get a slightly runny icing.